Tunnel-type commerical-duty washing machine

ABSTRACT

A tunnel-type commerical-duty washing machine has a horizontally elongated housing subdivided by a succession of partitions into a succession of compartments each provided with a generally cylindrical foraminous drum. Each drum is provided with a respective foraminous scoop formed from a first generally cylindrical section having an edge attached to the outer wall and extending between the end walls of the drum and a second generally frustoconical section forming a continuation of the cylindrical section and having a side edge joined to one of the end walls over a major arc of the periphery of an aperture in one of the end walls. Thus the drums may be oscillated back and forth to agitate clothing, but when rotated through greater than a predetermined angle the scoop will pick up the articles of clothing in the drum and displace them axially out of the drum.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an apparatus for treating a textilearticle. More particularly this invention concerns a commercial-dutylaundry washing machine.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Although the standard home washing machine has been developed andperfected to a high degree, large-capacity machines such as used incommercial laundries, hospitals, collectives, and the like have remainedrelatively crude. The most recent development in such commercial washingmachines has been so-called continuous washers which are formed with anelongated housing having an input end and an outlet end. Laundry may becontinuously introduced into the input end and is continuously expelledfrom the output end. Such an arrangement, referred to as a washingtunnel, is internally subdivided into several zones respectivelyresponsible for the soaking, prewashing, washing, and rinsing of thearticles introduced into the inlet end. In each zone the water ismaintained at a predetermined temperature and various washing productsare added. As a rule the water is circulated from the outlet end backtoward the input end.

In the commonest type of such devices inside the longitudinallyelongated cylindrical housing there is provided a similarly shaped drum.The entire arrangement is tipped slightly toward the output end so thatas the internal drum is rotated the clothing and the like within it istumbled and slowly progresses toward the outlet end. With such anarrangement some articles are washed much more thoroughly than others.In addition the simple tumbling action caused by continuous rotation ofthe treatment drum is not on the whole as effective as an agitation oroscillation of this drum would be.

Attempts have been made to overcome these disadvantages by providing acentral compartmented drum in the housing forming a spiral with asuccession of flat partitions alternating with helical ones. In such anarrangement the different laundry articles advance at approximately thesame speed and do not get mixed together. Such a system has, however,the considerable disadvantage that the central drum is extremelyexpensive and difficult to manufacture. It must be delivered to the siteas a single unit and does not allow the type of washing operation to bealtered by addition or removal of stages. In addition it is necessarythat the articles in each compartment be subjected to exactly the.[.ame.]. .Iadd.same .Iaddend.type of tumbling or agitating movement sothat, for instance, a still-standing presoak cannot be carried out atthe same time as a tumbling or oscillating wash cycle. In somearrangements (see German Pat. No. 1,948,045) the drum is rotatedcontinuously in one direction whereas in other systems (see U.S. Pat.No. 3,103,802) the drum is oscillated back and forth about its axis.Continuous rotation in the same direction or tumbling has been found tobe relatively ineffective for thorough washing, and oscillation throughless than 270° has similarly been found to be of very reducedeffectiveness.

So-called modular systems have been described (see British Pat. No.516,772 and U.S. Pat. No. 2,056,803). In such systems the separatesections of the drum are nonetheless constrained to rotate together oncethe assembly is installed so that once again a still-standing soak isimpossible during a washing operation in the same machine. Furthermorethe laundry must be transferred from each chamber to the next chambersimultaneously so that a very large drive motor must be employed andheavy-duty power circuits installed to handle the load.

It is also known to provide vanes within the drum of a washing machine(see French Pat. No. 1,226,393, German Pat. No. 1,290,909, and U.S. Pat.Nos. 3,084,531 and 3,364,588). In such a system the vane is built suchthat rotation of the drum in one direction tumbles the laundry withinthe drum, but rotation in the opposite direction displaces it axially tounload the drum. Such a system nonetheless relies on the above-describedineffective tumbling effect. In addition such an arrangement frequentlycauses a considerable quantity of water to be dumped out of the drumwhen it is reversed.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide animproved apparatus for treating a textile article.

Another object is the provision of an improved apparatus forcontinuously washing, dyeing, drying, or otherwise treating a textilearticle.

A further object is to provide a tunnel-type washing machine suitablefor use in a commercial laundry or the like.

Yet another object is the provision of such a commercial-duty washingmachine which is inexpensive to manufacture, readily adaptable todifferent types of washing and treating operations, of low currentconsumption, easy serviceability, and simple installation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

These objects are attained according to the present invention in anapparatus for treating a textile article which comprises at least onedrum rotatable about a horizontal axis and provided with an outer walldefining a chamber and with a pair of axially spaced end walls flankingthe chamber and each formed at the axis with a respective aperture. Ascoop is provided in the drum which is effective on rotation throughmore than a predetermined angle for lifting an article being treatedfrom the outer wall and displacing same out of the chamber through oneof the apertures and which is ineffective on oscillation of the drumthrough less than the predetermined angle for lifting the .[.aritcle.]..Iadd.article .Iaddend.from the outer wall. In accordance with thisinvention the scoop is at least partially foraminous and is formed froma first generally cylindrical section having an edge attached to theouter wall and extending between the end walls and a second generallyfrustoconical section forming a continuation of the cylindrical sectionand having a side edge joined to one of the end walls over a major arcof the periphery of the one aperture.

With the apparatus according to the present invention it is possible toemploy a highly efficient agitating oscillation motion of the drum fortreating the textile article. In accordance with this invention thispredetermined oscillation angle may be substantially 360° so that verythorough cleaning, dyeing, rinsing, or similar liquid treatment ispossible. Similarly when the article being treated is lifted by theforaminous scoop most of the liquid contained in it will run out backinto the drum before .[.it.]. .Iadd.the article .Iaddend.is transferredout of the drum so that liquid loss and transfer from one treatment zoneto the next is minimized.

According to another feature of this invention the apparatus comprises ahousing having an inlet end and an outlet end and provided between theseends with a succession of upright partitions forming in the housing asuccession of separate compartments. Each partition is formed with athroughgoing opening and each compartment is provided with one suchdrum. The drums are coaxial with the axis passing through the partitionsat the openings. Each frustoconical section is joined to that end wallof the respective drum turned toward the outlet end of the housing.

In such an arrangement the end of the cylindrical section joined to theouter wall lies generally in a plane including the drum axis andangularly bisecting the major arc where the frustoconical section joinsthe periphery. Thus the drum may be oscillated back and forth through360° so as effectively to wash the articles enclosed in it, andoscillation through an extra 180° will automatically scoop up anddischarge all of the articles in the housing, while positioning thescoop so that fresh articles can be introduced into the other apertureof the drum so as to fall into the body of liquid in the bottom of thechamber.

With such a system all of the drums may be separately supported forindependent rotation and all separately driven for independent rotationand oscillation. Thus it is possible in a single washing machine tobriefly agitate and then let the .[.aritcls.]. .Iadd.articles.Iaddend.soak in the upstream presoak drum while simultaneouslyviolently agitating articles further downstream in the washing drum.Different agitation speeds and actions can be provided in each drum andthe discharge time from each drum into the downstream drum can bestaggered, usually starting with the .[.furtherst.]. .Iadd.furthest.Iaddend.downstream drum, so as to minimize instantaneous currentconsumption and shock to the system.

In accordance with this invention the housing is formed of a pluralityof independent compartments each having its own drive and drum. Eachcompartment comprises an upper half and a lower half, with the upperhalf being provided with a drive and the lower half being provided withrollers for rotatably supporting the drum. Thus it is possible to expandthe system to any size needed, and the installation is relatively simpleas the assemblies are merely bolted together one next to the other. Aprogrammer controls the operation of all of the drives and for thevarious means for introducing treatment fluids into the compartments. Incase of difficulty with a single drum it is a relatively simpleoperation to open the respective compartment and service or replace theproblem unit. In practice it has been found that the arrangement isoverall much cheaper than known commercial-duty washing machines ofsimilar capacity. In addition downtime is considerably less as theapparatus is quite simple, and the device is extremely flexible so thatit is possible to use it for all kinds of washing, dyeing, and otheroperations.

Each drive means according to the present invention comprises a combinedmotor transmission having an output side to which is operativelyconnected a pinion that meshes with a chain wrapped around therespective drum. The pinion is itself driven by a chain and is mountedon the end of an arm pivotal about an axis parallel to the drum axis andbiased by means of a spring toward the drum so as to insure goodcoupling of the two elements together. Such an arrangement is extremelysimple and has a very long service life.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

The above and other objects, features, and advantages of the inventionwill become more readily apparent from the following description,reference being made to the accompanying drawing .Iadd.in.Iaddend.which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a drum according to the presentinvention, partly broken away;

FIGS. 2 through 5 are cross sections through the drum of FIG. 1, inreduced scale, illustrating operation of the drum according to thisinvention;

FIG. 6 is a longitudinal section through a washing apparatus accordingto the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a large-scale view of a detail of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a cross section through the detail shown in FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a large-scale view of the drive unit of FIG. 8; and

FIG. 10 is a top view of a portion of the drive unit of FIG. 9.

SPECIFIC DESCRIPTION

As shown in FIG. 1 a drum 1 according to the present invention is formedas a cylindrical body of revolution centered on an axis A and having aplanar inlet end wall 2 formed with a central circular hole 3 and aplanar outlet end wall 4 formed with a central circular hole 5. An outerwall 9 defines with the end walls 2 and 4 a cylindrical chamber centeredon the axis A. Six angularly equispaced and axially elongated agitatorvanes 6 are provided on the outer wall 9 extending radially inwardly.

A scoop 7 is provided in the drum 1 and is formed generally of a firstgenerally cylindrical part 8 secured to the outer wall 9 along astraight edge 10 parallel to the axis A. The scoop 7 also comprises agenerally frustoconical section 11 forming a continuation of the section8 and secured to the periphery of the opening 5 in the wall 4 along anarc 12 between 200° and 250°, here 225°. A plane P bisects the arc 12,and passes through the axis A and edge 10. This scoop 7 is foraminous,being formed of a perforated sheet of stainless steel.

As also shown in FIG. 7 each drum 1 is formed with an axially extendingcylindrical collar 13 forming an extension of the outlet opening 5. Inaddition steel bands 14 and 16 at the end walls 2 and 4, respectively,reinforce the drum; axially centered between these bands 14 and 16 is astrip 15 constituted by a bicycle-type chain 26. The outer wall 9 isperforated as indicated at 17 between the bands 14, 15, and 16 and thevanes 6.

As also shown in FIG. 6 each of the drums 1 may be mounted in arespective housing 18 itself mounted on a common support 19 with all ofthe drums coaxial. Individual drives 20 described below are provided foreach drum 1. A programmer 45 is connected to all of the drives 20. Inaddition soapy water may be fed into some of the compartments through aninlet line 46, rinse water may be fed into some of the compartmentsthrough an inlet line 47, and all of the compartments may be drainedthrough an outlet line 48. Valves 49 connected also to the programmer 45serve to control the introduction of soapy water or rinse water and thedraining of the housings 18.

As best shown in FIG. 8 each of the housings 18 is formed of a lowerhalf 31 having feet 33 and an upper half 32 joined to the lower halfalong lateral seams 37 and 38 lying in a horizontal plane with the axisA. Each drum 1 is mounted in such a housing 18 by means of four rollers35 secured at 34 to the lower half 31 and cradling the drum.

The drive 20 as shown in FIGS. 8, 9 and 10 comprises amotor-transmission 21 having an output shaft 22 connected via chains 23to a pair of splined shafts 24 journaled each in a pair of arm 27pivotal about the axis of the shaft 22 as shown at 28. A sprocket-pinion35 is mounted between these arms 27 on each splined shaft 24 so as to berotationally coupled thereto but limitedly axially displaceable theretoalso. A spring 29 presses each of the sprockets 25 radially inwardlythrough a hole 36 in the upper half 32 into mesh with the respectivechain 26. Since one such sprocket 25 is provided to each side of themotor-transmission 21 very positive coupling is obtained between theoutput side 22 of the motor 21 and the drum 1. By the same token,however, jamming of the respective drum 1 will not cause the motor toburn out as the sprockets will merely ride up and slip on the chain 26.

In accordance with the present invention and as illustrated in FIGS. 2through 6, the apparatus functions as follows:

Articles of clothing are loaded into the inlet end of housing 18furthest upstream via a chute 42 in the direction of arrow 43 (FIG. 6).The programmer 45 is operated so as to introduce the requisite soapywater into this upstream housing 18. Thereafter the drive 20 is cycledso as to oscillate the drum 1 through 360° counterclockwise and thencounterclockwise repeatedly, so that the articles of clothing 39 aretumbled in the liquid 40 in the drum 1 as shown in FIGS. 2-4.

After sufficient treatment the programmer 45 rotates the drum from theposition of FIG. 4 through another 180° to the position of FIG. 5 sothat the scoop 7 picks up the .[.aritcles.]. .Iadd.articles .Iaddend.ofclothing from the bath 40 and discharges them as indicated by arrow 41into the next downstream drum 1.

At this time another load may be introduced as indicated by arrow 43,rinse water may be fed into the second downstream housing, andsimultaneous washing and rinsing may take place.

This operation is continued until there is a load of laundry in each ofthe drums, here six in number. The device is operated so that the firstload is discharged and the other loads are all moved up one after theother to free the furthest upstream drum so that a seventh load may beintroduced into it. In this manner continuous washing is possible. It ispossible, indeed to only provide minimal agitation in the furthestupstream drum and then to allow the articles merely to soak. On thecontrary, the other loads may simultaneously be agitated for washing andrinsing in the further downstream drums.

A very effective agitation of the articles 39 is achieved for mostthorough washing period. The displacement of the drums from the positionof FIG. 4 to the position of FIG. 6 is executed very slowly so as toinsure that a .[.miximum.]. .Iadd.maximum .Iaddend.amount of the liquidheld in the articles 39 drips back into the compartment before thesearticles are displaced into the next downstream drum.

After exiting as indicated by arrow 44 the furthest downstream drum thearticles may be fed to an extractor or press.

I claim:
 1. An apparatus for treating a textile article with a liquid,said apparatus comprising:at least one drum rotatable about a horizontalaxis and provided with an outer wall defining a chamber and with a pairof axially spaced end walls flanking said chamber and each formed atsaid axis with a respective aperture; scoop means in said drum effectiveon rotation thereof through more than a predetermined angle for liftingfrom said outer wall and axially displacing said article out of saidchamber through one of said apertures and ineffective on oscillation ofsaid drum through less than said predetermined angle for lifting saidarticle; drive means for oscillating and rotating said drum about saidaxis, said scoop means being at least partially foraminous and formedfrom a first generally cylindrical section having an edge attached tosaid outer wall and extending between said end walls and a secondgenerally frustoconical section forming a continuation of saidcylindrical section and having a side edge joined to one of said endwalls over a major arc of the periphery of said one aperture, said edgeof said cylindrical section lying generally in a plane including saidaxis and angularly bisecting said major arc where said frustoconicalsection joins said periphery; a housing means having an inlet end.Iadd.and an outlet end .Iaddend.and .[.provided.]. .Iadd.providing.Iaddend.between said ends individual housings forming a succession ofupright partitions defining respective compartments and each formed witha throughgoing opening, each compartment being provided with one suchdrum, said drums being coaxial with said axis passing through saidopenings, each frustoconical section being joined to that end wall ofthe respective drum turned toward said outlet end; and means forintroducing treatment fluids into said compartments.Iadd., .Iaddend.saiddrums being at least partially foraminous.
 2. The apparatus defined inclaim 1 wherein said predetermined angle is substantially 360°.
 3. Theapparatus defined in claim 1 wherein said drive means for each drumcomprises:a motor transmission carried on said .[.housng.]..Iadd.housing .Iaddend.and having an output side; a pinion operativelyconnected to said output side.[.,.]..Iadd.; .Iaddend.and.[.,.]. a chainwrapped around the respective drum and in mesh with said pinion.
 4. Theapparatus defined in claim 3 wherein said drive means for each drumfurther comprises means for radial displacement of said pinion relativeto said axis, and spring means for urging said pinion radially inwardlyagainst said chain.
 5. The apparatus defined in claim 4 wherein eachoutput side has a splined shaft extending axially, said pinion beinglimitedly axially displaceable on said shaft.
 6. The apparatus definedin claim 1, wherein each of said housings is formed from an upper halfand a lower half joined at a generally horizontal axial plane, saiddrive means being provided on said upper half, said lower half beingprovided with means for rotatably supporting said drum.
 7. The apparatusdefined in claim 6 wherein said means for supporting each drum includesa plurality of rollers cradling said drum and rotatable about respectiveaxes parallel to said axis.
 8. The apparatus defined in claim 1 whereineach of said drums is rotatable independently of the others, said drivemeans including respective drives each operatively connected to arespective one of said drums for .[.ratating.]. .Iadd.rotating.Iaddend.same.
 9. A washing machine comprising:housing means including aplurality of axially aligned axially open housings centered on a commonaxis and disposed adjacent one another to define a succession of axiallyseparated compartments; a respective perforated drum in each of saidcompartments, said drums being rotatable about a substantially commonaxis and being axially open; scoop means in said drums effective onrotation thereof through more than a predetermined angle for liftinglaundry from each drum and axially displacing same into a successivedrum, said scoop means being ineffective on angular oscillation of saiddrums through less than said predetermined angle; means for introducingliquid into and removing it from said housings; and drive means forrespectively rotating the drums and angularly oscillating same in therespective housing, said scoop means of each drum being formed from afirst generally cylindrical section and a second frustoconical section,each of said drums having an axial aperture in an end wall through whichlaundry is deposited in the next drum, each of said cylindrical sectionshaving an edge attached to a peripheral wall of the respective drum andeach of said frustoconical sections having a side edge joined to therespective end wall over a major arc of the periphery of the.[.apeture.]. .Iadd.aperture .Iaddend.thereof, the said edge of eachcylindrical section lying generally in a plane including said axis andangularly bisecting the respective major arc where the respectivefrustoconical section joins the respective aperture periphery. .Iadd.10. An apparatus for treating a textile article with a liquid,comprising: a plurality of axially spaced at least partially foraminousdrums rotatable about a common horizontal axis and each provided with arespective outer wall defining a chamber and with a pair of axiallyspaced end walls flanking said chamber, each of said end walls beingformed at said axis with a respective aperture; respective scoop meansin each drum effective on rotation thereof in one sense through morethan a predetermined angle for lifting from the respective outer walland axially displacing said article out of the respective chamberthrough a respective one of said apertures into another of said drumsand ineffective on rotation of the drum, in the opposite sense forlifting said article; drive means for angularly displacing said drums insaid one sense through at least said predetermined angle and forrotating said drums in said opposite sense, each of said scoop meansbeing at least partially foraminous and formed from a first generallycylindrical section having an edge attached to the respective outer walland extending between the respective end walls, and a second generallyfrustoconical section forming a continuation of said cylindrical sectionand having a side edge joined to one of the respective end walls over amajor arc of the periphery of the respective said one aperture, saidedge of said cylindrical section lying generally in a plane includingsaid axis and angularly bisecting the respective major arc where therespective frustoconical section joins the respective periphery; housingmeans having an inlet end and an outlet end and providing between saidends individual housings forming a succession of upright partitionsdefining respective compartments each formed with a throughgoing openingand, each compartment receiving a respective one of said drums with theapertures thereof being aligned with said opening, each frustoconicalsection being joined at that end wall of the respective drum turnedtoward said outlet end; and means for introducing treatment fluids intosaid compartments. .Iaddend..Iadd.
 11. The apparatus defined in claim 10wherein said predetermined angle is substantially 360°. .Iaddend..Iadd.12. The apparatus defined in claim 10 wherein said drive meansincludes:a motor transmission carried on said housing and having anoutput side; a pinion operatively connected to said output side; and achain wrapped around one of said drums and meshing with said pinion..Iaddend..Iadd.
 13. The apparatus defined in claim 12 wherein said drivemeans further comprises means for radially displacing said pinionrelative to said axis, and spring means for urging said pinion radiallyagainst said chain. .Iaddend..Iadd.
 14. The apparatus defined in claim12 wherein said output side has a splined shaft extending axially, saidpinion being limitedly axially displaceable on said shaft. .Iaddend..Iadd.
 15. The apparatus defined in claim 10 wherein each of saidhousings is formed from an upper half and a lower half joined at agenerally horizontal axial plane, said drive means being provided onsaid upper half, said lower half being provided with means for rotatablysupporting said drums. .Iaddend..Iadd.
 16. The apparatus defined inclaim 15 wherein the means for supporting each drum includes a pluralityof rollers cradling said drum and rotatable about respective axesparallel to the first-mentioned axis. .Iaddend..Iadd.
 17. The apparatusdefined in claim 10 wherein each of said drums is rotatableindependently of the others, said drive means including respectivedrives each operatively connected to a respective one of said drums forrotating same. .Iaddend..Iadd.
 18. A washing machine comprising: housingmeans including a plurality of axially aligned axially open housingsdisposed adjacent one another to define a succession of axiallyseparated compartments along a common axis; a respective perforated drumin each of said compartments, said drums being rotatable about saidcommon axis and being axially open; scoop means in each of said drumseffective on rotation thereof in one sense through more than apredetermined angle for lifting laundry from each drum and axiallydisplacing same into a successive drum, and scoop means beingineffective to lift laundry upon rotations of said drums in the oppositesense; means for introducing liquid into and removing it from saidhousing; and drive means for rotating the drum in said senses, saidscoop means of each drum being formed from a first generally cylindricalsection and a second frustoconical section, each of said drums having anaxial aperture in an end wall through which laundry is disposed in thenext drum, each of said cylindrical sections having an edge attached toa peripheral wall of the respective drum and each of said frustoconicalsections having a side edge joined to the respective end wall over amajor arc of the periphery of the aperture thereof, the said edge ofeach cylindrical section lying generally in a plane including said axisand angularly bisecting the respective major arc where the respectivefrustoconical section joins the respective aperture peripherally..Iaddend.